How do those darn Europeans stay so healthy and lean? What are they doing and where can I get some? Who is the healthiest in the world? Obesity ravages the U.S. as now the number one most preventable form of death. How horrendous! Nationally and globally, heart disease is the number 1 killer. We need to find out what these Europeans are doing fast and take notes. Let us visit the top 5 healthiest countries in the world and further explore what they are doing so right in order to make our wrongs just a bit less wrong so to say.
(Articles by fitness trainer/nutritionist Anthony Heredia)

Welcome to a new year full of prosperity coupled with wonderful new levels of health, dear ladies of Agenda. We address the age-old question of why we cursed men hold this unfair advantage in the battle of the bulge and further yet, how to help you reap said benefits. The truth of the matter is that men do have major weight-loss advantages over you lovely ladies, combined with disadvantages as a woman.

If your requirement for a good book is that it ends happily, you will want to skip David Wroblewski’s The Story of Edgar Sawtelle. However, if like me you savor good writing for the sake of good writing, great descriptions of the Wisconsin countryside in the 1970s, descriptions of its memorable characters, and beautiful, free-flowing writing, you won’t want to miss it. All of these things kept me reading and hoping to be in the end rewarded for my patience and dedication.

(Reviewed By Lee L. Peoples)

Matt Ventimiglia is a man who has hitched his wagon to a star, literally, from traveling the globe to see the eclipses in the best possible locations, as near as Baja, California, to remoter places like Australia and the high Arctic Ocean; a star gazer who shares with others his vast knowledge of the universe. When talking with Matt, it is difficult to spend less than an hour listening to his fascinating stories about the universe. He is an expert on film, an excellent photographer, and, what I believe to be, a true renaissance man in an age where the mediocre is more the norm than not.

I have been feeling a lot of anger lately over the many conflicts in the world, the many wars. I have been feeling that unless mankind learns to handle our differences civilly and without violence, we will be our own end. The environment is groaning because of our greedy misuse, and with the factor of war added in, it starts to rapidly decline.

(Written by Lisa A. Trimarchi)

I have never been out of the country. Unfortunately, my fear of flying (well, fear of going down is more like it) has hindered my exploration of the world. About five years ago, I could have traveled with a friend, and a group of other Jewish adults, to the motherland – Israel. For the most part, it was a free ticket because it involved committed studies and group activities.

(Written by Elana Pruitt)

Mumbai, formerly known as Bombay, is the home of Bollywood star Pooja Batra. Mumbai’s population alone is 13 million. And if you take into account the entire population of India being over 1 billion, one could say that Pooja Batra is a bigger celebrity than any one star here in America. Naturally, Hollywood crosses continents, and most blockbusters are translated into several different languages across the globe. But for the dense population that exists in India, becoming a superstar there really carries a lot of weight. I recently interviewed Pooja Batra in her lovely American home, and got a crash course in Bollywood.

I just had the best haircut ever – from Jeffrey Jagged. Hey, with a name like that, he’s GOT to be a hot stylist! And he is!

Jeffrey Jagged got his start in New York City in the early 90s, styling wigs for some of the colorful downtown “glitterati.” He was also a fashion stylist in the Big Apple, where he rubbed elbows with celebrity stylists Danilo, Rodney Groves, and Oribe.

It’s a time of extreme financial hardship, but the owners of a struggling theater think people will want to escape their woes and buy tickets to be amused and entertained.

We could be talking about today, but it’s actually the premise of the new depression-era musical at the Center Theatre Group’s Ahmanson Theatre in Los Angeles. Based loosely on the 1968 movie, “The Night they Raided Minskys,” and the 1960 book of the same name, the show tells the fictionalized story of real-life impresario Billy Minsky (Christopher Fitzgerald), trying to prevent his burlesque theater from closing down due to the efforts of a hard-nosed politician (George Wendt).

What do Matthew Modine, Annette Bening, and Laurence Fishburne have in common?

You can see them all in person . . . at the Geffen Playhouse!

The Geffen Playhouse in Los Angeles has just announced its exciting 2009/2010 season, kicking off with the world premiere of Blair Singer’s Hollywood parody Matthew Modine Saves the Alpacas , starring none other than Matthew Modine himself.